BAR HARBOR – Though gasoline has just reached a record average price of $2.37 per gallon in Maine, the narrow streets of this summertime vacation Mecca were still choked Wednesday with sport utility vehicles and motor homes from most states in the union.

Some tourists were stoic and some bothered by the skyrocketing price of fuel. No one, however, said they considered staying home and saving money instead of touring the country by automobile.

“We’re getting 8 miles per gallon and we don’t care,” Bob St. Clair of Washington state said Wednesday. “We’re on an extended vacation, so, oh well.”

St. Clair and his sister, Jan Cooper, said they had just retired and were taking an extended lighthouse tour of the country pulling a trailer.

“We don’t really care what it costs,” Cooper said.

“But we want to do this before gas reaches three, four dollars per gallon,” her brother countered.

The national average price Thursday for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel was $2.39, up from $2.29 a month ago and $1.86 last year. According to data provided by the American Automobile Association, the price for a gallon in Maine has tended to be higher than the national average over the last year. This week, however, the prices were just about the same, and higher than ever.

“It definitely makes a difference in how far we travel,” Victoria Bisking of Manheim, Pa., said about the high gas prices while eating an ice cream cone on Main Street. “We’re retired … we want to do what we can do while we still can.”

Bisking and her husband, Richard, drove up the East Coast for their summer vacation, despite the relentless upwards creep of gas prices.

A younger couple taking in the sights near the Village Green, Bradley and Sharon Horst of Maryland, estimated that they were getting about 25-30 miles per gallon in their Chevrolet Impala.

“We’re on our honeymoon, so we’re not worrying about it that much,” Sharon Horst said.

Others said that they chose which vehicle to drive to Maine based in part on the high price of fuel.

“It affected which car we were going to take,” Tina O’Malley of Illinois said. “We have a diesel and a Saturn Vue.”

The family of three drove the Vue and figured on spending $300 to $400 on fuel during their trip.

Some tourists who had driven long distances remembered the lower gas prices found in the southern United States with affection.

“South Carolina is about $2.11 per gallon,” Kelly Eadie of Chapin, S.C. said. “Which is cheap, compared to you guys.”

Eadie expressed a desire that is becoming more commonplace as gas prices shoot upwards.

“I hope we come up with an alternative fuel,” he said.